[Boatanchors] WRNO's transmitter.

[Robert Nickels]

sdaitch at kuw.ibb.gov wrote:
> Thanks for the link.  
>
> When I clicked on the TX photo, I thought
> that is NOT the transmitter I saw 
>   
Good catch, Sheldon.  I dug out the article, which tells the sad but 
interesting history of the transmitters at WRNO Worldwide.  Let me share 
a few excerpts:

Joe Costello, the station founder who broke the ground for domestic HF 
broadcasting  back in the late 70s, was described by the author as being 
"extremely cheap".  (Did I mention he was also a ham?  well, no 
correlation I'm sure...)   So instead of fixing up the initial Harris 
100kw transmitter the station started with, he instead bought a 50KW 
transmitter from CCA - a company that had never made a dual band 
shortwave transmitter before, and evidently the bugs never were quite 
ironed out.  According to station engineer, Larry Thom, the SW-100 "died 
due to little preventative maintenance"; Costello just wouldn't spend 
the money to keep it running properly (Any old broadcast engineers 
nodding your heads out there?)    For example, he had the transmitter 
operator distill their own transmitter cooling water, and often didn't 
run the full 100KW power.  The station didn't own a dummy load large 
enough, so all testing was done on-the-air.   Thom says when he first 
came on the scene, it was putting out only 6000 watts!   After a few 
days he got it up to 60KW but dirt in the cooling system eventually 
caused arcing of the 30KV supply and the teflon cooling hoses wore 
out.   Larry wanted to buy a nice Continental transmitter but once 
again, Joe saved money...

CCA paid Costello  $150K for the old Harris and sold him a transmitter 
before it was built.  The CCA had separate 7  and 15mhz RF cabinets with 
a common p/s and modulator.  Serial Number 1 was finished on-site and 
had to be modified for a 75 ohm output as that's what Joe's balun that 
fed the 300 ohm open wire feedline was for.     The antenna, by the way, 
is a TCI Log Periodic aimed north-northeast with a gain of 9db.  (It's 
located in the scrubby field that you see on Google Earth to the north 
of transmitter building and the two big towers).

One day the FCC called and complained to the WRNO receptionist about 
interference  to other stations.  Someone went to the transmitter site 
and called Larry to tell him that smoke was coming out of the CCA 
transmitter.   Turning off the main breaker did not stop the smoke!  It 
was discovered that the transmitter had burned badly, wiring harnesses 
completely melted, modulator wires burnt up, etc.   In the end, the new 
owners opted for a new 50KW Elcor plate modulated transmitter that was 
built in Costa Rica.  http://www.elcor.org/   According to the article, 
the burnt-up transmitter led to a 50% reduction from the asking price 
when the Good News Outreach group bought it in 2001.

And here's the part "we" can relate to:  In the Costello days the backup 
transmitters were a Johnson Viking and Valiant, as well as a T-368!  
Today, according to the article, Larry has a "Globe King 500D Serial 
Number 1" which can make 300 watts as the backup.   And I'm going to end 
this story right there, but any of you who know what a "500D" is - you 
know THAT is a whole 'nuther story!

73, Bob W9RAN